Snail Spirals

Emma and I trekked down to Puyallup on Friday, to go to opening day of the Fair. To see the fair, since I’ve never been in the four years we’ve been here, but more importantly, to see how my entries did! And guess what?!

I won!!! Again!! Wahoo! (…insert a mental picture of me dancing around in glee…)

The sewing thread doily won Grand Champion for Lace and Openwork!



And both that doily and the hardanger doily won Best of Category!



Wheee!

The fair was soooo crowded, though. We drove around town for 45 minutes before we found a parking lot that wasn’t full, and I got the very last spot in that one. All the on-street parking was taken, the lots were full, even the churches that were offering parking were full. It was an absolute zoo. I think the entire state of Washington was there. The western half, anyway.

Emma and I battled our way around to see all the exhibits in the Home Arts Building and Hobby Hall, and saw some of the livestock (“Sheep, Mama! Sheep!”) before Emma had had enough and was on the verge of a meltdown. To tell the truth, I was on the verge myself. The giant crowd was a bit much for this country mouse. So we did one last trip to the Home Arts displays so I could look at my ribbons again, then headed back north to catch the ferry.

Emma napped the whole drive to the ferry (2+ hours), we stopped for a quick sandwich before putting the car in line, then we spent a lovely half hour on the beach at the ferry terminal, throwing pebbles into the water and practicing getting both feet off the ground while jumping.

It was a very fun day. On reflection, though, I realize that the San Juan County Fair has a much friendlier, more fun atmosphere. It’s an order of magnitude smaller, for one thing, without the hordes of people. It has more of a “country fair” feeling. The fair in Puyallup seemed to be more rides/food/commercial vendor oriented. They had booths selling mattresses, for goodness sake! There were lots of gorgeous handcrafted items on display, but the quality and variety (if not the quantity) was just as good at our fair. In short, I’m glad I went and it was fun, but I don’t think I’ll make that 5-hour round trip every year.